In 1983, President and COO Horst Schulze decided on a strategy to manage the Ritz Carlton to compete on quality. The strategy affected the entire organization, with significant differences in: · Defining the characteristics of all company products defined in the Company Credo · Translating the Credo into basic standards to clarify responsibilities · Personally train employees in the new Ritz-Carlton Creed and Core Standards (the Gold Standards) · Aggressively instill a passion for excellence Five years later, Schulze began using the Malcolm Baldridge criteria National Quality Award for developing a system of business excellence. This system used the Deming Wheel to achieve optimal performance levels throughout the organization. With these new policies in place, Schulze led the Ritz Carlton to the first recipient of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for Service. The summary of the 1999 Ritz-Carlton application is as follows: Criterion 1: Leadership “Plan” – There are seven specific decisions collectively. developed by senior leaders to set the direction for business excellence: · 10-year vision · Strategy · 5-year mission · Methods · 3-year goal · Foundation · 1-year tactic Senior leaders formed the Gold Standards , which include the Creed, the Basics, Three Steps of Service, the Motto and the Employee Promise. Together, the Gold Standards have the ability to empower employees to take initiative by thinking and acting with innovation and independence, for the overall benefit of not only the company, but also customers. “Do” – Specific actions of senior leaders in order to properly manage the new leadership approach, these are made up of three essential processes: · Ensuring that the goods and services of each new hotel are characteristic of all other Ritz Carltons on the day of the opening. · The results of seven specific decisions defined at the annual meeting..... . middle of paper...... as well as employee satisfaction factors.7.4 Supplier and Partner Results The Ritz-Carlton ensures that its supplier performance requirements are met through a thorough compliance investigation and Supplier Quality which measures key aspects of supplier quality. Purchasing staff at each hotel respond to the survey every six months and rate specific issues, e.g. fitness for purpose, accuracy and service, etc. Suppliers who achieve an overall score of 80% or higher on all attributes meet the Ritz-Carlton quality requirements. 7.5 Organizational Effectiveness Results Ritz-Carlton's CARE program of systematic preventive maintenance has helped maintain its properties and equipment at world-class levels at reduced costs. This is in line with their goal of seeking a defect-free environment. With low unemployment and significant competition for skilled workers, the Ritz-Carlton embarked on a major project to improve the cycle time from the arrival of a potential new employee. the door and a job offer is presented. Through quality scientific approaches, the Ritz-Carlton improved cycle time from 21 days in 1996 to just 1 day in 1999.